South Carolina Business Review

S.C. farmers may soon be using drones, robots, and AI

By Mike Switzer

Published February 27, 2025 at 6:30 AM EST

Ways To Subscribe

Provided

Joe Mari Maja

Joe Mari Maja, senior researcher and director at the Center of Applied Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Agriculture at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C.

Farmers, like most business owners, are always on the lookout for ways to make operations more efficient. With the help from a recent grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, our next guest’s university is hoping to develop tools that would include drones, robots, and AI to help farmers in our state. Mike Switzer interviews Joe Mari Maja, a senior researcher and director at the Center of Applied Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Agriculture at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C.

Tags

Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

See stories by Mike Switzer